Important Information: Cyclists must dismount prior to the entry to the AIS Swimming Centre (off Leverrier Crescent, Bruce) and remain off their bikes until Alisa Camplin Place if travelling anti-clockwise. Dismount at Alisa Camplin Place if travelling clockwise.

Points of interest along this section include:

the Federation Village of HallBelconnen Town CentreJohn Knight Park, BelconnenGossan Hill Nature ReserveThe Australian Institute of Sport (AIS)Black Mountain Nature ReserveDiscoveriesRural Past—Resumed by the CommonwealthOn 1 January 1911, over 2,280 square kilometres of land was acquired by the Commonwealth to establish the Federal Capital Territory. The resumption abruptly changed the lives of the area's 1,700 residents.

Shocked locals found they had lost the right to vote, could no longer sell their land on the open market and had no surety of leasing their land back once acquired by the government. For those who stayed, it was as temporary tenants only.

The region's small rural communities fractured and dispersed. Hall, on the edge of the ACT, is one of the few pre-Federation villages to remain.

Today, Hall is a reminder of the small but proud rural communities that were relocated to create the Capital at Canberra.

hall school

In 1911, Hall was the area's largest settlement. These boys attended the newly opened Hall School. Suddenly part of the new Capital, the residents of Hall had their expectations of the future turned upside down.Credit: Image reproduced with permission of the Hall School Museum.

Building the New Towns—The Planning of Canberra's ExpansionThe role of the town planner in Canberra has always been an important one. Here within the heart of one of Canberra's 'new towns', the work of the nation's planners is all around us.

Belconnen, the second new town after Woden, was established in 1966 when Canberra was growing faster than any other Australian city. Its streets, stormwater, suburbs and schools were carefully planned and implemented by the National Capital Development Commission.

Open space and landscape were integral to the new towns. Generous reserves, parks, playing fields, street trees and open front gardens are a key feature of the planned landscape. Much of the trail passes through these interlinking open space networks that are unique to Canberra

new towns

The new towns were planned to be self-sufficient, providing local employment and facilities to reduce the need to commute between areas of Canberra. Places like Belconnen Mall expanded rapidly with settlement of the area.